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Saturday, 20 July 2013

BOOKS: Sei Shōnagon - The Pillow Book [966 -1017]

...How to dress when in doubt:

Gathered trousers - Dark violet. Spring-shoot green.
In summer, lavender. On very hot days, trousers in the lapis lazuli blue of summer insects give a sense of coolness.

Hunting costumes - Clove-tan.  Soft white silk.  Red-purple weave.  Pine-leaf green.  Cherry blossom. Willow.  Also, green wisteria.
Men wear all manner of colours.

Shifts - White. For daytime formal wear, one should wear a more relaxed, scarlet unlined version of the akome gown.  Still, white is always particularly good.
I cannot bear people who wear a white shift that's slightly yellowed. Some people wear gloss-yellow robes, but I nevertheless prefer white.

Fan ribs - This made from the wood of the hō tree.  The colour should be red, violet or green.

Cypress fans - Undecorated, or painted in the Chinese style. 

Extract taken from : from Sei Shōnagon - The Pillow Book 

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